Once Upon A Time
by Jasmin Liertha
Summary: It was a fine day, the weather was wonderful, and Prince Hayato was in a furious state - read: throwing a tantrum. Innocent trees were killed. 185927. Implications of 8000. AU.


_Buon giorno, everyone. How about a story? Once upon a time not so long ago, at the House of Gaspare…_

It was a good day outside. The sun was shining, its cheerful rays slightly blocked by the fluffy clouds, making the weather just perfect. Birds chirped and flew merrily, flowers bloomed, trees sparkled with life and grass swayed gently in the breeze.

As all good things _always_ came to an end and today was no exception, the aforementioned trees were suddenly cut down with no mercy, the upper bark sliding off and hitting the ground with a loud thump. Grass were crunched under heavy, unforgiving black boots and the flowers may or may have not wilted, mourning for the suffering of their neighbors, but the aggressor was of course too caught up in his thoughts to notice.

_Well, it's dubious if he would even care if he noticed, considering his own sister's attitude—and his father's, his grandfather's, and his great-great-great-great-grandfather the Vongola-slash-Clam Head Tactician's attitude—but that is a musing for another time._

Prince Hayato was in a bad mood. Understandable, really, since he had had a bad day. _I don't think it's very befitting of a royal to throw tantrums when they are mad, but it's not the place of a commoner to question a prince, so I digress._

Back to the topic, Prince Hayato was very mad indeed, and as was his norm he took his (_righteous, mind you_) anger out on the poor, poor trees.

_Let us have a moment of silence for those now not-so-pretty trees._

Now, Prince Hayato had had a bad day. It started off badly with a rude awakening by Uri, his very cute cat that had very cute little claws. Prince Hayato might be disinclined to agree as those same claws had been used to engrave the six red lines on his face that very morning.

_Hearsays tell that Prince Hayato treats Uri so cruelly that Uri now retaliates in kind. Seeing how whipped he is by the cat (no, really; apparently despite the millennia old feud between cats and dogs, puppy eyes goes surprisingly well on a cat), I have to disagree._

_He's really just a big softie behind all that silly, testosterone-induced bravado._

After separating the cat from his face—which took an hour by the way—he went to the kitchen, much too exhausted from his battle with the cat to endure the fussing maids and stiff dining manners that he would have to display if he sat properly in the royal dining room.

Much to his despair, he found that his sister had taken control of the kitchen. Freely dancing purple fumes in the air plus his sister's uncovered face equaled to a series of stomachaches and vomiting on his part. That flea of a doctor had refused to treat him and he was left in his room alone. The constant pain in his stomach made sure that he couldn't even sleep away the illness.

Hours of nausea and general misery later found Prince Hayato cursing up a storm after receiving news that worsened his mood even further, leading him to his current tantrum, err, fury.

Prince Hibari was coming to visit.

A scream tore out of Prince Hayato's throat, making his rage audible for all to hear. Another clump of trees was cut down by his deadly silver sword. Still not fully recovered from his earlier encounter with his sister, he panted from the exertion.

"Hayato!"

Startled, the said prince jumped. _Now I could say that he had jumped into a tree in his surprise, but he was not a cat despite the hissy behavior hinting otherwise, so he merely jumped a few centimeters._

_What, I could have used hyperbolism, you say? Well, never mind that. Let's continue._

A brunet wearing princely garments not unlike Prince Hayato's approached the silver-haired prince with a disapproving look. It was Prince Tsuna, the Crown Prince of the Great Vongola Kingdom and the grandson of the current King, and also Prince Hayato's best friend. Prince Hayato tried to smile, but it really came out as a eep-I'm-sorry-Tenth-may-I-ask-what-you-need grimace. With his arms behind his back trying, and failing, to hide his sword, Prince Hayato was the perfect picture of a child who got caught with his hand in a cookie jar. A _very_ cute child with a kicked-puppy air.

Prince Tsuna sighed, feeling an incoming migraine. The cause of Prince Hayato's distress was obvious to him. Prince Hayato only became that angry when it concerned the young Head of the Law Guards, Prince Hibari.

Well, when it concerned Prince Hibari _and _Wizard Mukuro. But after last year's portrait and cookie incident Prince Hayato tended to just run out of the country as fast as possible if Wizard Mukuro was around, not scream like a banshee and make victims out of innocent trees.

At that thought, Prince Tsuna spared a moment to note to himself to remember to tell someone to get the chopped trunks and store them. The Wise Advisor Reborn would kill him if the man knew that he had wasted resources, no matter that the scary man was currently out of the country. The man had _bugs_ at his beck and call.

Shuddering, Prince Tsuna firmly pushed memories (shoo, shoo, you wicked memories) of Reborn out of his mind and focused on the matter at hand. Prince Hayato still had his kicked-puppy look on. Prince Tsuna sighed. "Hayato…"

He twitched when his best friend and self-proclaimed right-hand man's puppy look goes on full force. Are those _dog ears and tail_?

Oh yes, definitely a migraine.

Prince Tsuna placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and did his best to pretend that the unnatural dog ears and tail _did not _exist. "Hayato, I know you don't like Kyouya, but please don't take it out on the trees."

Prince Hayato had the grace to look ashamed, but he remained firm. Bull-headed, as a certain perverted medic would say. "But Tenth! That guy is coming here!" he, to put it simply, whined.

Prince Hayato faltered at the admonishing look the other gave him in response.

"That is no excuse to destroy these trees, Hayato," insisted Prince Tsuna. "Don't you feel bad for the gardeners who worked hard to grow and care for these trees?" The guilt card. Ouch.

Prince Hayato shrunk on himself. "Yes, Tenth."

"Good," said Prince Tsuna with a smile. The pleased note in his voice was obvious. He chuckled when Prince Hayato's stomach growled, much to the silver-haired prince's mortification. "I heard about what happened this morning. Bianchi's still dominating the kitchen, so I'll go get you some food from Takesushi."

Any protests from Prince Hayato about the esteemed Crown Prince doing menial work for him were quickly silenced by a peck to his forehead that left Prince Hayato's face beet red. With a pat on the head and a gentle utter of, "Wait here," Prince Tsuna left for the sushi restaurant.

A minute after, Prince Hayato shook out of his stupor—not completely but enough to sit down on a fallen log, all the while holding a hand to his forehead.

Then, a voice carrying a smooth, deep timbre rang out from behind him, draining color from his face. "Hn, so this is where you are, herbivore."

He jumped from his seat and whirled around, the sharp end of his sword pointed at the newcomer. "You!"

Prince Hibari raised an elegant eyebrow, as if saying, "Yes, me. Have you gone stupid since my last visit?"

Although he would never admit it, Prince Hayato was unfortunately well-versed in the language of silent conversation that was unique to one Hibari Kyouya. (He vehemently argued that it was because of his genius mind. Really.) Thus, he definitely comprehended the intended insult. "Shut up, you bastard!" shouted Prince Hayato, his face red in anger, and he leapt at the other man, bringing his sword down in a sharp diagonal arc.

The raven-haired man scoffed and shifted to his right, causing the sword to pass by him with nary a scratch made on his black coat. Grabbing Prince Hayato's extended wrist, he pulled the silver-haired prince, trapping the man against his black-clad body.

Shocked by the sudden movement and his current proximity to Prince Hibari, Prince Hayato's grip on his sword loosened and the sword fell to the ground with a resounding clatter. Prince Hayato tried to remove himself from the other's hold, mortified to find his face pressed close against the other's warm chest. To his frustration, Prince Hibari was by far stronger than him. (_Even though they both have the same frail, feminine frame… ahem_.) Prince Hibari was not the Head Guard at such a young age for nothing after all.

"What are you doing?" shouted the enraged prince.

His eyes oozing smugness, Prince Hibari gripped Prince Hayato tighter until the other's chest was pressed against his. An arm left the younger prince's waist but before Prince Hayato could take advantage of the loosened grip, long smooth fingers tilted his chin and he found himself staring into onyx eyes.

Prince Hayato could feel an impromptu heat in his cheeks that he knew was in no way a fault of the heat, and he tried to glare at Prince Hibari, acutely aware of his suddenly dry throat. "W-what are—"

He never got to finish his question, for Prince Hibari closed the distance between them at that moment and claimed his lips.

_For this, kids, suffice to say that there was tongue involved, and Prince Hayato had _no chance_ at resisting. And no, it's not unusual at all that the Princes are eating each other's faces. Why, haven't you heard? The cute Prince Enma from the neighboring Land of Shimon is visiting the Great Swordsman Lord Takeshi quite often these days, they say._

Prince Hayato was glad when, a minute later, reprieve came in the form of Prince Hibari releasing his lips to catch a breath (_yes, kids, he's human_). Prince Hibari was unruffled even as he had to jump back to avoid a punch from Prince Hayato. Licking his lips, he observed as Prince Hayato furiously scrubbed his lips with the sleeve of his coat and smirked at the joke of a glare his flustered prey sent him. A low, pleased hum rumbled in his throat at the reddened face and hazy eyes of the other.

"I will enjoy my stay here." With a parting smirk, Prince Hibari strutted out of the clearing.

Prince Hayato gaped at the man's back, and continued to do so even when the other had completely disappeared from view. A few minutes later, Prince Hayato finally came back to earth and stopped his imitation of a fish statue.

"That _bastard_!"

And so another set of the poor innocent trees was lost to the prince's rage.

-o-

Prince Tsuna winced at the loud thumps coming from Prince Hayato's direction. Those poor trees. Leveling an accusing gaze at the man in front of him, he said, "Mou, Kyouya. What did you do this time?"

The other must have been a cat in his past life, because no one but Uri had ever been able to form a look that radiated pure unadulterated smug pleasure so effortlessly like Prince Hibari did in response to his question. (Prince Tsuna is of the firm opinion that Reborn didn't count. He was more of an alligator anyway.)

Prince Tsuna sighed and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, can't you refrain from teasing Hayato so much?"

Prince Hibari sent him a bored look. "Feel free to join if you'd like."

"_Kyouya_!"

-o-

_A few weeks later…_

"Tsuna-kun…," muttered a red-haired prince to his friend. This was Prince Enma of the Land of Shimon.

Prince Tsuna turned to look at his best friend (his other best friend, that is, aside from Hayato) with a curious smile. "Yes, Enma-kun?"

"Why was Prince Hayato consuming every single drop of sake at Takeshi's last night? And mumbling something that sounded like, 'the Tenth is flirting with me'?"

Prince Tsuna froze, his smile twitching every few seconds. "Um, ah… that is… he's cute?"

"Prince Hibari is a bad influence on you, Tsuna-kun."


End file.
